BCT Editorial – 9/11/07

This page was last updated on September 22, 2007.

Six years and counting; Editorial; Beaver County Times; September 11, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“As Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker testify before Congress about the impact of the troop surge in Iraq, it’s important for Americans to again resist the Bush administration’s efforts to conflate the invasion and occupation of that country with the war on terrorism.”

[RWC] Sorry, but no matter how much the Times editorial board currently wants us to believe otherwise, Iraq is one front in “the war on terrorism.”

“It’s been six years since that awful day of Sept. 11, 2001, and for the most part the Bush White House has wasted that time. As Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton, co-chairmen of the 9/11 commission, wrote in Sunday’s Washington Post, although some progress has been made, especially on the domestic front, our nation still has a long way to go.”

[RWC] Gee, who would have thought?

“‘Are we safer today?

“‘Two years ago, we and our colleagues issued a report card assessing the U.S. government’s progress on the bipartisan recommendations in the 9/11 commission report. We concluded that the nation was not safe enough. Our judgment remains the same today: We still lack a sense of urgency in the face of grave danger.

“‘The U.S. homeland confronts a ‘persistent and evolving terrorist threat,’ especially from al-Qaeda, according to the National Intelligence Estimate issued in July. Six years after the attacks, following a series of ambitious reforms carried out by dedicated officials, how is it possible that the threat remains so dire?

“‘The answer stems from a mixed record of reform, a lack of focus and a resilient foe. Progress at home - in our ability to detect, prevent and respond to terrorist attacks - has been difficult, incomplete and slow, but it has been real. Outside our borders, however, the threat of failure looms. We face a rising tide of radicalization and outrage in the Muslim world - a trend to which our own actions have contributed. The enduring threat is not Osama bin Laden but young Muslims with no jobs and no hope, who are angry with their own governments and increasingly see the United States as an enemy of Islam.

“‘Four years ago, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld famously asked his advisers: ‘Are we capturing, killing or deterring and dissuading more terrorists every day than the madrassas and the radical clerics are recruiting, training and deploying against us?’’

“‘The answer is no.’

“Although they don’t say so directly, in their conclusion Kean and Hamilton seem to have given up on the Bush administration doing anything of substance about the threat.”

[RWC] Hmm, I guess I misunderstood the part that said, “Progress at home - in our ability to detect, prevent and respond to terrorist attacks - has been difficult, incomplete and slow, but it has been real.”

You have to love this. On a continuing basis we read editorials opposing programs intended to improve domestic security, and then we get to read editorials telling us we’re not doing enough.

FYI, we must be doing something right. On a regular basis we catch terrorists here and abroad before they can carry out their plans and we haven’t had an attack for six years. I suppose the Times would tell us those are accidents.

“‘We call on the presidential candidates to spell out how they would organize their administrations and act urgently to address the threat,’ they wrote. ‘And we call on ordinary citizens to demand more leadership from our elected representatives. The terrible losses our country suffered on 9/11 should have catalyzed efforts to create an America that is safer, stronger and wiser. We still have a long way to go.’”